My journey to better health

Yikes. Sounds unpleasant.

It was the flushed the ear and now things are back to normal.

My numbers are somewhat high but nothing like they've been.....got a ride arranged AND a suitcase to use so less stress. I even managed to sleep fairly decently for the first time in a week last night.

My menu for the weekend is changed though: Brads fridge and freezer died and the meat I had in there all thawed out and has to be used. How am I going to use up 3# of hamburger in only 2 days?

Umm... Can you make a chili and keep it at your mom's? Once it's cooked, you can re-freeze the meat. It'll probably take you all the way until winter with that much meat!

We ended up with: burgers, taco salad, and meatloaf.

Sounds good to me.

Definitely. We have begun the summer squash fest. I made noodle stuff with squash, tomatoes, onions, and spinach. Whole wheat noodles taste really good in it. We top it with fresh mozzarella cheese. We'll be eating it for days to come! I have a bumper crop of squash and cucumbers. At least it's all health food. I spent the beginning of the week pigging out while a friend visited. I feel FAT.

Try a cold cucumber soup. Sounds weird I know but it's great and very soothing.

OOoooo...I'll take some of that squash and cucumbers off your hands!
You can make overnight refrigerator pickles from those cucumbers too. Don't remember the recipe exactly but it has vinegar, sugar, and not much else in it but thinly sliced cucumber and onions.

My numbers are back to normal now....lower 90's or upper 80's, which is okay considering that's what they were last summer in the heat.

I think the stress of inspection is finally past....I've been in the upper 80's for readings the past few days. Not the upper 90's like I've been for weeks.
But the stress of being in 90+ weather will soon change that.....

I was sure my BGL would be skyhigh from liver dumping yesterday. I didn't eat for 21 hours...yet my BGL was only 96 when I finally got to eat dinner.
I went to a free dental event in town.....didn't plan on it taking 12 HOURS! Food and anesthetic don't mix well with me and I didn't know if I'd get anesthetic or not so no breakfast. Not wide awake when I left so forgot to bring a snack. Spent 10 hours standing in the line twice as they would only do one thing, then you had to go back in line and wait to do the second thing, etc.
At least the weather wasn't nasty hot and I was early enough to be under the awning when our morning rain hit.

Oh man! I HATE going to the dentist. I probably would have wimped out if I had to wait that much. I'm lucky that my teeth are just naturally cooperative and I don't need much work done ever. But, I still just hate going to the dentist. I admire you for your patience.

All that waiting was the ONLY way I'll get a teeth cleaning or anything beyond tooth pulling. I THOUGHT I was getting a cavity filled, but it turned out not to be a cavity so rather than let my sore aching feet be all for nothing, I had that extra lose molar pulled. There was no way of saving it but I didn't have the copay for Medicaid to have it done elsewhere.

Now that spot is half filled in already, doesn't hurt. But my throat and ear are another story. I think I was exposed to some sort of virus that's going around since this showed up the next day....saw the doc this morning. Waiting on the culture results, should have them in a day or two. It's hard to swallow or eat anything.

Not strep and the sore throat finally went away. Guess it was too much allergy stuff causing too much postnasal drip.

My BGL have been soaring the past few days, ever since I got the letter from the unemployment people that my claim is being audited. I have to give them my job search records, which I can't find! I think I accidentally shredded them when I was getting ready for that big HUD inspection. Trying hard to recreate it from memory. Hope it's good enough.

I've been having sore throat problems. initially thought it was a cold coming on but it's more like allergies.

That's what the doctor said, a lot of people have been coming in lately with the same symptoms I had. Makes me grateful I'm on allergy meds....I can imagine how miserable I'd be without them this year.   

Since my joints have been all sore and swollen my BGL have been high.....no late snack last night after a low carb dinner and still wake up to a 111.

My journey just took a blow: I have inflammatory osteoarthritis with a touch of rheumatoid too. The past 2 weeks have been hell, last Thursday the worst. I was so swollen, so sore, so stiff I could barely walk into the doctors office. Hands would not bend, joints were turning black....the rest was red, hot to the touch, and swollen to the point of the skin almost splitting. I hadn't slept in days. After a lot of hassles trying to get a ride I finally saw a rheumatologist who gave me a shot in the butt (first one since I was a baby and the nurse commented "you have very little fat back here", and put me on prednisone. Made a huge difference but I'm still a bit stiff, swollen, and sore but no longer red or turning black. I go back for recheck on Wednesday.

My sis was NO HELP at all...in fact it seems she doesn't care at all what happens to me. My mom drove for the first time in 25 years and was scared to do it but we had no choice. I was in no shape to drive at all.

Oh no! That's no good at all. Will gentle stretching help? My grandfather used to have a hot wax thing for his hands. He put paraffin in it, and said it really helped his hands feel better. I hope they find the meds you need to help.

It does but it hurts to do it. I still wake up with slightly swollen, stiff, and sore fingers, wrists, knees, ankles, and toes. I go back tomorrow for a recheck with the rheumatologist between shifts.
The prednisone has my BGL soaring about 10pts higher than usual. I know the heat wave that is starting today will send it even higher.

Steroids definitely affect BG. Ask the doctor if there's something you can do.

I'll be tapering off the prednisone in about 3 months so my BGL will be high for that time. Meanwhile, I'm also now on methotrexate, which isn't supposed to do that.

Now my dilemma, two meds for arthritis, one for glaucoma....and a state medical card that will only allow me 4 prescriptions per month. So which one prescription of the 6 meds I have for migraines, asthma, and allergies do I fill? There is NO way I can afford to pay for ANY of these 8 meds out of pocket. The cheapest one is $68.00!

I have rheumatoid arthritis too it seems (borderline and expected to get worse--thanks mom), on top of osteo.

Today, I woke up because 3 toes of my right foot HURT from the weight of a --get this-- cotton sheet. Right now both ankles are swollen and half numb, left knee is sore, all toes are swollen, most of my fingers are swollen, and the wrists both have a dull ache in them.

Are there prescriptions you can use at 1/2 the rate? Something like taking 1/2 a pill per day instead of a whole one? It isn't ideal, but it might be a way to stretch things so you could alternate getting stuff from month to month.

No....and the insurance won't let the doc write one for a 3 month supply to save me on the copay either.

Hands hurt bad today...damn rain just won't quit and give me a break. I could barely open the door to go to work today. Stupid round slippery knob.

Found out the arthritis meds are raising my eye pressure...I'm now back in the glaucoma range again despite the eye drops. If it doesn't drop pretty soon the eye doc said 'we'll have to make some adjustments'. Hope that doesn't mean drops twice a day and fighting with the insurance to get the prescription filled.

Meanwhile, state Medicaid is forcing me to choose yet a different health plan. So far none of my docs is in any of them.....what the hell do I do now?